


On a Paris Afternoon

by NuclearNik



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Paris (City), Post-Hogwarts, Vignette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24195172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuclearNik/pseuds/NuclearNik
Summary: She sees him across the street, real and whole andright there.
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson
Comments: 48
Kudos: 87
Collections: You Pick Two





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the You Pick Two Flash Fiction Comp in the Dumbledore's Armada Discord. Prompt: Reunion. 
> 
> Winner: Fan Favorite  
> Winner: Consider it Canon
> 
> Love and thanks to QuinTalon for pre-reading!

It's three in the afternoon when she sees him.

The breeze is cool and carries on it the scent of petrichor, the world around her glistening as if washed clean by the rain.

Pansy pauses, the high heels of her designer boots thudding abruptly against the pavement.

He's taller, broader. There's the shadow of a beard on his jaw, the dark blonde hairs catching the light breaking through the clouds, and she can't stop staring, transfixed by this mirage of her past.

How long has it been, she wonders?

Four years, maybe five?

She doesn't realize she's stopped in the middle of the street until a tiny woman with a rainbow scarf trailing behind her shouts, _"Faire gaffe!"_ and narrowly avoids running her bicycle over the toes of Pansy's expensive shoes.

There is something drawing her to the man ahead of her, watching the small fountain in the park square as the jets perform their choreographed dance.

Her hesitance is getting her nowhere, so she shakes out of it, glancing up and down the street before dashing across, tugging the brim of her felted hat down over her eyes and stopping just beside the fountain, only close enough that he might see her if he turns his head a centimetre to the left.

His hands are in the pockets of his coat, a lovely sport jacket tailored perfectly to his frame. He looks good. Healthy and happy. 

A few moments pass, and then he turns to her, politely greeting her in French and gesturing at the fountain as if to say, "Isn't it lovely?"

Pansy cannot help the smile that touches her lips at the knowledge that through a war and half a decade, he still holds that wholesome kindness about him, that intrinsic _goodness_ that has always been with him.

"Hello, Neville."

She skips his surname this time. 

They'd earned the right to such a privilege the moment they first came together in the shadows that horrid year when Hogwarts became a prison, no longer the academic sanctuary it had once been, and the only comfort to be found was in each other, in soft touches and sweet lies whispered against tender skin.

He jolts a bit, clearly startled at the sound of his name and the fact that she's speaking English, but he quickly recovers and turns to look at her fully, and she tilts her head back to let the light illuminate her face.

Recognition flares in his eyes as he looks her up and down, a slight flush dusting his cheeks when he realizes he'd traced his gaze along the lines of her body, accentuated by her form-fitting dress.

The blush is endearing, impossibly so, and she fights the urge to lift onto her toes and brush her lips across the pink skin decorated in a smattering of freckles from time spent out in the sun.

There is something warm about him, a familiarity that she's been lacking in the months since she's moved to Paris. She loves it here, really, but this taste of home is both bitter and sweet, and her heart aches at the sight of the one person who's ever truly seen her for who she is.

The one person who ever saw past the sharp remarks and holier-than-thou attitude she used as armour to the soft underbelly of who she'd been back then: a broken girl with baggage three suitcases deep and an immense desire to be _wanted_ , sought for her keen mind and relentless ambition, not her family's connections or the gold in her vault.

The wizard standing before her never cared about the trappings; he'd just held her in the dark and listened to the hopes and dreams she'd never told another living soul.

"Do you want to get coffee and catch up?" She nods in the direction of the little cafe on the corner.

A few beats pass, and she sees the memories of the two of them together float hazily through his mind, the corner of his mouth turning up in the most charming grin she's ever seen. 

"I'd like that, Pansy."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second in a series of vignettes.

There are children playing in the park ahead of her and for the first time in her life, Pansy imagines little witches and wizards running around like that with her eyes and his hair, and the thought _doesn't_ make her cringe.

That alone is a clear sign that she's too far gone to save; she's fallen arse over teakettle for a boy with strong hands and a kind smile, and freckles like stars across the bridge of his nose.

He has an arm around her shoulders, _public affection_ right out there in front of everyone, and she doesn't even blink. She _may_ even nuzzle deeper into his embrace, but if you ask her later, she will vehemently deny any such accusations.

It's natural with him. Right. It feels wrong when they aren't touching, really. When they aren't connected somehow.

Sometimes when they walk, she curls her pinky around his just to feel the warmth of his skin on hers, and it is perfect. Just his presence beside her makes her feel like she can conquer the world with her wand in one hand and his hand in the other.

On the two hundred and fourth day from the moment they reunited all those months ago, they make a massive, life-changing decision.

They get a pet.

Pansy wants a cat, Persian or perhaps Calico, but Neville turns his big, bright eyes on her, lower lip just _slightly_ protruding in the most ridiculous yet endearing pout she has ever seen, and that night they bring home a dog from the shelter in Belleville.

He is a shaggy golden retriever with sleepy eyes and a hitch in his gait, already well on in age. They have to sneak him into Pansy's flat—which has become _their_ flat, because Neville came home with her one night and before she knew it, she'd set aside a drawer for his things and a mug just for him in the cabinet by the sink—where pets are not allowed.

It is not easy to _sneak_ a dog weighing four stone into a tiny urban apartment, but they manage, and the sweet old canine makes them a family before they ever even realise they are one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed more from these two! Thanks so much for reading <3


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